Todor swallowed the string of curses that popped in his mind. He can be civil and play nice with this creature, or at least not lop off his head right away. Let us see what he has to say. If I play my cards right maybe he will let something slip, he thought as he tapped nervously with his foot.

"Let him in," Holanador ordered briskly. Hillard nodded and closed the door.

"I don't understand what is his plan? Why would he want to take over the city?" Todor wondered out loud.

"Many reasons. To gain access to bigger resources, to gain glory, prestige. After two centuries of having him in my city, I still don't know what makes him tick," Holanador answered. Todor jerked back at her explanation. He didn't expect her to answer, he was just thinking out loud.

"Gain bigger resources, huh?" Todor repeated. "I am almost sure he wants to make new vampires. But since this virus only propagates through mana and humans, his list of victims was zero."

"Until now. You could become an immortal vampire." Governor suggested looking at him intensely.

Todor pulled his palm through the hair. His scalp started to itch the same way as last night when masked Anadori tried to cast a spell. Ezezu, my scalp itches when Anadori casts the spell nearby. But I didn't feel a thing when that Morg started casting, you had to warn me. The mental shrugging of the ghost girl spread through his mind. Todor looked at the Governor but she wasn't doing anything, just watching him intently. He felt a thin veil come over his mind. He could barely see it but it had a similar texture to the magical sound catching web.

Making a face he stretched his mage awareness in every direction before he was stopped by the veil. He pushed slightly and even with such weak mental nudge he almost broke through. Someone is trying to bewitch you, Ezezu said in his mind. I noticed, but it's weak, I can break through it with ease, he retorted. Don't, let them think they have you. Curious 'hmmm' escaped from his lips. Not in the mood for playing cat and mouse, Miss Book.

"Is something wrong Mister Corpus?" Holanador asked.

"I don't know, you tell me?" Todor snapped back as he bulldozed the flimsy enclosing spell with the push of his mind. He stretched out, questing and searching for the caster. He found five behind bookcase on his right. Questing a bit more with his mind he got a picture of a hidden room. His radar returned black spot from that direction. Shielded room with a cabal of mages? Bodyguards? He pointed at the wall behind which they were hiding. "Are those there to protect you from me or the business partners such as Midnight Breeze?"

Holanador smiled widely.

"Gods, I missed you humans being able to do magic," she said almost jovially. She nodded towards hidden mages. "They are always there when I am in the office. They are always close by where ever I go, in fact," she stopped and put her pen down. "I had hundreds of Anadori etriarchs and Morgothlite shamans walk in here in the past century, and not even one of them noticed them. They are very proficient in casting discreet honesty spells."

"You made it impenetrable by radar waves. So you know that technology is no joke," Todor said more to himself than to her.

"I fought in Three Banners War, Mister Corpus. I know how deadly your human toys can be, personally," she said with more vigor and more vehemence than Todor expected from her. There is something here we don't know, Ezezu, he pondered in his mind. The ghost of the girl agreed with a short hum.

The door open and Hillard entered followed by Midnight Breeze. The old vampire wore a sharp white suit with a cane resting under his arm. He smiled as he noticed Holanador, then his eyes moved to Todor and he his eyebrow twitched. But his composure returned in a blink of the eye.

"Mister Breeze, to what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected visit?" Holanador asked crossing her hands and reclining in her chair.

"My dearest Governor, I came to inform you that some of my subjects committed a crime," Midnight Breeze said with a smile, fangs bared for all to see. A reminder of his true nature.

"It must have been some crime for you to brave the streets early in the morning and risk sunburns," Holanador retorted swiftly.

"It is a serious breach of our agreement I must say. Few of my children in their zeal to please me made a foolish move upon your new constable," Midnight Breeze stopped and looked at Todor. "I am glad to see you were not harmed, sir."

"I wasn't, my living room wasn't so lucky," Todor said trying hard not grind his teeth.

"So, what do you expect me to do about it?" Holanador interrupted their exchange. Midnight Breeze glanced at her and licked his lips, changing the position of his cane to another arm.

"Nothing at all, the guilty parties were punished by my own hands," the vampire said moving his eyes back to Todor and looking at him meaningfully.

"Bullshit, I dealt with your goons on my own, only two humans were left al ..." Todor stopped talking realization coming to his mind.

"Exactly," Midnight Breeze said his smile going crooked and his posture changing from slightly bowed back to his full size.

Todor fought rage building inside of him. Did he kill those two humans? For what? They didn't have any say in what was going on. His mind fought for control over his hands which twitched in an undeniable urge to pull his sword out.

I share your outrage soul-brother, but this is not the time to strike, Ezezu said in his mind. Todor agreed wholeheartedly but his mind and heart were not in concord. Somehow mind won the inner battle and he sighed loudly.

"So mighty Midnight Breeze punishes underlings who had no agency in their action because his vamps failed to accomplish a task? How does it feel that two of your impeccable creatures of the night stopped their hunt forever?" Todor asked, words coming to him unbidden. Where did I hear those words before? It sounds like a ritualistic mantra, doesn't it? He wondered. They were written in maharoon, you are accessing its knowledge without knowing it, Ezezu explained.

Midnight Breeze had a look of disappointment on his face.

"You have me there. Kine lives can't compare to the lives of two of my brothers," Midnight Breeze said in a bored tone of voice. "Maybe you could recompense me the loss of their lives in some way?"

"Why would I? They were in my home, on my ground, like some little thieves in the night. They new consequences of their actions. Or maybe they didn't? Maybe your kind, the vampires, don't think your actions have consequences and can do whatever you want?" Todor pressed vigorously, his voice rising with every uttered word.

"Calm down, Mister Corpus," Holanador reminded him and Todor glanced at her before nodding and taking a deep breath. "But my constable is right. You are threading the needle, Mister Breeze. Sending thugs to my employees home, damaging his property, attack him."

"It wasn't on my orders that such unfortunate happening came to be. But I agree, I do share a degree of responsibility. I would have forbidden them to make such an action on your new constable if I knew that what I needed is already part of him. But he wasn't inaugurated yet so I think it is in our best interest to let this slide, for now at least," Breeze suggested sweetly.

"I concur. But that is a fine line you are walking Mister Breeze. I hope we would not meet one more time with you standing on the other side of it," Holanador said coldly and temperature in the room dropped suddenly by twenty degrees Celsius. "I might be past my prime but be warned, I still have enough power in me to level entire towns with a single thought. I built this city, I will destroy it if need be to keep my word."

Midnight Breezes face went serious and he nodded. His cane moved again and he bowed.

"That was all I came here to inform you, honored ruler of this polis," the vampire said and marched out of the room.

Todor and Holanador watched the close door for half a minute before Hillard coughed slightly. Both of them looked at the lanky man in surprise. They forgot he was there.

"Ma'am if I may be so bold, why did you antagonize Mister Breeze? I know that for whatever the reason you chose Mister Corpus as your constable, but mister Breeze has been our greatest financial supporter," Hillard said eying Todor, his eyes reassessing him.

"Money is good, but I can't let Breeze do whatever he wants just because he has money. Power comes in many forms, and fiscal power Midnight Breeze possesses can only get you so far," Holanador said slowly, her pen taping her lips.

"Does that mean Mister Corpus has that ... another type of power Mister Breeze doesn't have?" Hillard wagered a guess. Governor jerked her head and looked at him. Oh, he wasn't in the room when I confided to Holanador, he doesn't know I bonded maharoon.

"I knew there was a reason why I kept you around. You are quick on the uptake," she said with a tight grin. "Mister Corpus has a power of change. Would you be so kind as to demonstrate why I hired you as my iron fist?"

Todor looked at her, uncomfortable with the idea of showing anything to complete stranger. She nodded back at him reassuringly. With a sigh, he brought his palm up summoning Ezezu. The black tome materialized there, it's heavy pages settling in his hand bringing a sense of peace.

Hillard stepped back, mouth a gap. He coughed slightly before coming closer to check.

"Is this what I think it is?" the lanky man asked in wonder.

"This is my maharoon," Todor said opening the clasp that held the book closed. Pages fluttered back and forth without being touched before Todor slammed it shut and dismissed her from the material plane in the cloud of red smoke. "And if what everyone is telling me is the truth, I am the first human mage that emerged after the Knitting."

Hillard gaped at him then made a sour grimace.

"You are saying that you actually, for real, without a doubt, murdered four people in your living room before coming to work?" He asked Todor, incredulity tightening his facial features.

"I asked them what are they doing at my house, and instead of answering me and apologizing they attacked me instead. What should I have done?" Todor snapped back with more vigor than he planned. Something about question bothered him. Maybe because jerk has a point. I should be more distraught after killing four people, but I feel like they deserved it, like justice was done.

"I guess you couldn't have acted differently," he retorted with a mild placating tone. Hillard turned his attention back to Holanador who was silently looking at two humans. "What now ma'am?"

"Mister Corpus, your inauguration will be held in two months time. But we can't wait that long for you to start working," she stopped and looked at the computer screen, she clicked few times with the mouse before printer started spewing out pages. "You two must go to the Sea Pit. My contacts are telling me something really strange is going on there."

"Strange? Like there is spread of creepy mimes strange or Jack The Reaper is killing prostitutes strange?" Todor said before taking a printed paper, still warm from the machine. He glanced over it and started reading. He froze midway. "You are telling me there are four hundred comatose people in this slums and media just ignored it for weeks?"

He remembered something on TV about sleeping sickness but it was framed as something minor and not serious.

"No one goes to Sea Pit if they can't help it. But this must be checked. My guess is that someone is using up those people, the and end result is a catatonic state," she explained, a tinge of guilt in her tone. "I wasn't sure who could do such a thing. But now with you casting more doubt on Midnight Breeze, it looks he is the prime suspect."

"Why didn't they went to a hospital? Here says they are just cared for by their families and a nearby church."

Hillard snorted. "They don't have money for that. They live in the Pit because they can't afford anything better."

"Great, alright agent Scully. We have a mystery to solve." Todor said still reading the paper and walking towards the door.

"My name is not Scully," Hillard protested following Todor.

"You would rather be Mulder? I don't know, I don't think I am skeptical enough to be Scully," Todor said grabbing the doorknob.

"You two, be careful," Governor said as they exited her office.